I have so many different reasons on why I choose to hunt.

Believe it or not, I am one of the biggest animal lovers you will ever meet, so it usually doesn’t make sense to people when I tell them I am a hunter.

In the beginning, I began going out and sitting in the woods just to watch the wildlife. My love of animals got me out there with my camera. I did this for a year or so…just taking my camera out to snap a few shots of life in the woods.

( Fall Buck, picture taken by Sarrah Knapp, 2004)

A place to be alone, sit in silence and watch nature. I became a fixture under any given tree. As I began to notice more species of animals, trees and plants, I became interested in the conservation of the outdoors… keeping nature beautiful and clean for my new outdoor animal friends. I began to notice more litter around and pick it up, care about recycling and how others treated the animals of the land we all belonged to. In researching and learning about conservation and what part I could play to keep everything more clean and natural in a world that looked to me like it was spiraling downhill, I began to understand what hunting was all about.

Everyone always asks if I love animals so much, why I hunt. To be honest, I thought it was mean and heartless to go out and harm or kill anything. And still to this day I believe it is if one is not properly outfitted, trained and respectful to the proper kill shots on their animals.

As I started out, I became a part of many organizations in my area who taught and encouraged wildlife management. I quickly learned that while humans were overpopulating the earth with just our presence and trash that these animals were running out of food and places to live. They would suffer from starvation with their growing numbers and lessening of crop for feeding. I began to realize what was behind the state hunting and fishing seasons. They were not just set up for the fun of hunting and killing, but in managed seasons and hunts; that taking a few animals a year was best for the herd or any animal group.

I have seen starving deer, numerous auto verses animal deaths and farm crop destroyed by overpopulated animal groups which feeds all of us at our local supermarkets. I began to see what these groups were talking about.

If I was disciplined in practice and was confident in my shooting skills, I could make clean kill shots keeping pain and suffering for my animal to a minimum and help balance the ecosystem at the same time. I then began to understand that hunting for the right reasons, and doing it in the respectful way was better for all of us… animals and humans.

And so it began. In dating my boyfriend, I started to notice all of the excitement hunting had to offer. From fish, ducks, deer to turkey, an entire new way of living was unfolding in front of me.

Everything was so new to me and I did not know a thing! But behind most men, and like my boyfriend at the time…they were out there for the same reasons as I was…and the passion ran deep. The love of nature, the silence and stillness, just to name a few. All I had to do was ask, and my teacher was there. So there it began, my life in the outdoors.

I eagerly began to tag along, just observing on the hunts. Soon after,with my knowledge of the wildlife management goals set aside for the seasons, I had been learning through the group events…I found the confidence and courage to go out on my first hunt.

I respected the reason on why I was out there, not just to kill but to learn, appreciate and watch. I was ready.

That year, I took my first spring turkey. Not only did I appreciate the meat he provided with, I was thankful for the life lessons my recent hunt had enlightened my spirit to. I learned about myself. I found an inner peace and silence I had found nowhere else.

It has never been, or will ever be about going out just to kill something. Yes, there will be fun and laughs but when a kill is made, there is so much more than that celebration I am feeling inside.

I will say my prayers over my harvest and I will continue to take the time to show the upmost appreciation to whatever animal I am fortunate to cross paths with. I will never stop thanking each animal for his donation to my own spirit and for the meat he has provided for myself, my family and my friends.

So when anyone asks why I hunt… it may take me over an hour to explain but it’s not just to get out there with all the trendy camo, guns and bows and blow something away. To me it is one of the best ways I can learn about myself, appreciate the animals of the land around me, and contribute in any way I can to the wildlife management goals of my area.